Ordinary Moments #1 – Simple Pleasures

The summer term of classes has finished, so I now have a couple of weeks where I have a little more free time as I’m not instructing as much. It feels really odd not to be rushed off my feet everyday, and for the first couple of days I found myself feeling quite lost and not quite sure what to do with myself.

So I decided to let myself have a few little indulgences this week, do some little things that make me happy, some simple pleasures that I normally don’t get time to enjoy. Here are a few so far:

1. A spot of gardening – love growing things, I don’t always do it successfully, but I’m having a few triumphs this year – lettuces, and the courgettes are coming along, I have a reasonable sized cucumber in the offering – something I’m particularly proud of as I failed dismally at growing cucumbers last year. I’ve also got potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries and raspberries – however – the jury is still out on the peppers and butternut squash at the moment!

2. An afternoon bubble bath, home alone, no kids shouting Mum every 2 seconds – just me, the bubbles and total silence

3. A catch up over a brew with my bezzie mate – an hour of putting the world to rights, can’t beat it. She is off work at the moment with a broken foot – so would be wrong not to take advantage, stick the kettle on and crack open the chocolate hob nobs.

4. Pouring over an armful of magazines, total guilty pleasure – in my younger days it was Heat, Closer – any celeb trash – now-a-days its Essentials and Good Housekeeping – what happened to me – ditched the gossip for recipies and crafting tips!

5. Homemade pamper time – was told somewhere, by someone I’m sure, that Avocado, natural yoghurt and oats was a natural Botox.. hmm.. not really sold on it, but I enjoyed adding a bit of garlic and lemon juice to the left over mix and putting it on pitta bread with a few toasted pine nuts rather than my face!

6. An afternoon nap – don’t think I’ve had those since the girls were babies and we would doze together for half on hour on the sofa. A powernap is certainly the way to go. No longer the frazzled, snappy mum when they finished school, they had a chatty, almost serine mother – Jessica did ask what sort of happy pill I’d taken and could I take it everyday (cheeky!!)

7. Wimbledon – as a child, I hated tennis, but my mum loved it, and Wimbledon was an annual must watch thing – so over the years I came to not only appreciate but really enjoy watching it. To carry on the tradition, I now inflict it on my children. I’ve still not managed to watch a full match, but seen a couple of fabulous games here and there

Its been a week or so of enjoying a few simple pleasures, nothing major, nothing life changing and something I should definitely try and fit more of in to my ‘Daly’ life.